Moscow's military campaign in Syria to date has not achieved enough and a next phase is needed, Russian news agencies quoted President Vladimir Putin as saying on Friday.
"Our objectives are being fulfilled, and fulfilled well," the RIA Novosti news agency quoted Putin as saying during a video conference with military officials.
"But for now that is not enough to cleanse Syria of rebels and terrorists and to protect Russians from possible terrorist attacks," he said.
"We face a lot of work and I hope that the next phases will be conducted at the same high level, as professionally, and will produce the result we expect."
Meanwhile, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said that Caspian fleet ships conducted 18 cruise missiles launches on "terrorist positions" in Syria on Friday, RIA news agency quoted him as saying.
Shoigu added that these cruise missiles hit seven targets in Syrian provinces of Raqqa, Idlib and Aleppo, the agency added.
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Research Associate at Center for Islam and Global Affairs (CIGA) at Istanbul Sabahattin Zaim University
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